Hello all,
Getting stronger
Thank you for taking a peek at the most recent update with my IT Help Desk job. It’s been going very well and I’ve been averaging about 20 calls a day. I help parents, teachers, and students with general questions they ask about the education system I work with. I also help them to troubleshoot software/hardware when it comes to the more technical things. I have had my first two quality assurance scores come back, and the first score was from the first day I did on my own, a 84%, and the next score was a little later in the week, a 94%. This was exciting as I was know where I can improve now, and I can establish a strategy to consistently improve my communication skills so that I come across the right way to the customer.
De-escalation
The 2nd week on my own was a little more familiar feeling than the first week, just because there was so much new information to absorb. However, my challenge this week was primarily figuring out ways to de-escalate angry or frustrated parents who often waited until an important deadline was very close. Not much could be done on our side as the service desk when it came to answering their question. Ultimately, things were in the hands of the other internal departments. So, when it comes to the tickets, when in doubt, we escalate it out.
Lessons Learned
A lot of the strategies to making this work involved trying to be as empathetic to the customer as possible. I found that when I was mirroring their tone and understanding their frustration on a level that sounded genuine, even to me, I could tell some of them were not as willing to blow up on the phone. When it was earlier in the morning, and my tone was a little less sincere, I would notice things get a little harder to direct in terms of de-escalation and goal of the call. In all honesty, this shows why having a patient, calm pace, tone, demeanor, and attitude, is important. It’s also important to sound confident when delivering the information to the customer so that they do not feel like they have to keep calling and asking to be 100% sure on an answer.